Columbia, SC -- The South
Carolina Department of Mental Health has received a $101,028 grant from
the SC Department of Public Safety to develop a mental health treatment
and violence prevention project in Lexington County School District 2.
This project, entitled Safe Passages, will focus on Lakeview Alternative
Center's day and after-school programs.

The three year grant will enable Lakeview Center to
add resources and services, including traditional mental health services
and non-traditional violence prevention services to 75 students and their
families. Classroom instruction, teacher training, consultation, and
family empowerment programs will be offered.

Students attending Lakeview have been placed there as
an alternative to expulsion from their
day-school or after-school programs. A majority of the students are
involved with the Juvenile Justice system. Safe Passages aims to
improve studentsí attendance and grades and reduce the number of referrals
to the Lexington County Solicitorís Office.

The South Carolina Department of Mental Health
(SCDMH) is an integrated system of care offering an array of programs and
services to meet the behavioral health needs of adults, children and
adolescents and their families. The SCDMH operates seventeen community
mental health centers around the state as well as two psychiatric
hospitals and two nursing homes.